Writers Helping Writers^®

Reader Interest

3 Steps To Writing Diverse Characters

December 17, 2019

3 Steps To Writing Diverse Characters

December 17, 2019

It’s official … Audiences have voted with their wallets and proved they WANT more diverse characters as standard. Novels lead the way, with breakout successes like Gone Girl and The…

Surprising Your Readers in Every Scene

November 12, 2019

Surprising Your Readers in Every Scene

November 12, 2019

Often we think of surprising audiences with large twists and turns, with thrilling midpoints or shocking losses, but bringing surprise into smaller story pieces, like interactions and beats, can sometimes…

Writing Feedback: Should We Seek It Out?

September 26, 2019

Writing Feedback: Should We Seek It Out?

September 26, 2019

As most of you know, Becca and I have been writing and publishing for some time now. Many thing have changed in the industry, including how a book reaches the…

4 Keys to a Powerful Denouement

August 22, 2019

4 Keys to a Powerful Denouement

August 22, 2019

Often as writers, we put a lot of our focus on the starting, climax, and middle of a story, and the denouement or falling action may be somewhat of an…

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Novelty

March 19, 2019

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Novelty

March 19, 2019

In the first post of my four-part series, I introduced ANTS, my framework for helping storytellers make strategic choices that increase reader engagement. ANTS stands for the effects a storyteller should seek…

Look Forward, Not Backward, to Pull the Reader In

February 12, 2019

Look Forward, Not Backward, to Pull the Reader In

February 12, 2019

A lot of writers have the tendency to look “backward” when writing. They might use a lot of flashbacks, they might have a character think “back” on things, or they…

Build Character Empathy in Your First Few Pages

May 29, 2018

Build Character Empathy in Your First Few Pages

May 29, 2018

You may not be aware, but I’m kind of obsessed with first pages and chapters. They’re not the end-all-be-all for keeping your audience engaged, but it’s definitely true that if…

Writing By Design: Using Color Theory

May 1, 2018

Writing By Design: Using Color Theory

May 1, 2018

Writing by design means using techniques from the visual arts to inspire and inform your writing. So far in this series you’ve learned how to use the constraints of space to…

Essential Marketing Tactics For Children’s Authors

April 24, 2018

Essential Marketing Tactics For Children’s Authors

April 24, 2018

When we aren’t working on thesaurus books, Becca and I write for children and young adults. This means we know that one of the biggest challenges for Kid-lit & YA…

Want Memorable Characters? Focus on the Little Things

February 22, 2018

Want Memorable Characters? Focus on the Little Things

February 22, 2018

I love building characters. In fact, “building” is apt, because for me, they come a piece at a time. A brick or two might lock into place as I wrestle…